MGMT

The first time I heard MGMT’s “Electric Feel,” I was working the floor at the Club Monaco on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, and the song was on the corporate playlist. It was the winter of 2007-’08, and nobody’d written much—or even really cared—about Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden’s Wesleyan-born pet project. Yes, Oracular Spectacular had just come out, and Spin and Rolling Stone had already stamped their big ugly stamps of approval on it. But like most tidal waves of pop trends, it was just the beginning: They were picking up steam, critically and commercially. Soon I’d look fondly back on those days, feeling like I’d found a fun little indie rock secret.

“Time to Pretend” and “Kids” would help propel Spectacular to gold status in the U.S. and platinum status in the UK and Australia. Naturally, their second record, 2010’s Congratulations, sucked. It was just too weird and indulgent; fans rightfully feared that their psych rock heroes had gone off the rails. Had they done too many drugs? Did they let their little bit of success go to their heads? It didn’t have the catchiness, danceability and joyous ecstatic energy that their debut had.

Luckily, they managed to pretty much fix it with their newest, their self-titled third from this past September. Entertaining fewer bizarre instrumentations and focusing on what they’re good at (weird rocking), it pulled fans like me back into the fold and quelled critics who believed they’d never be as awesome as they once were. Fear no more: This show’s going to be deafeningly rad. / Bill Chenevert